There was fresh evidence of the economic recovery gathering momentum today as figures showed the number of job vacancies rose at the fastest pace for 15 years last month.

Economic researchers Markit found
demand for staff increased at its sharpest rate since July 1998 driven
by demand in the private sector, which significantly outpaced demand for
staff in the public sector.

The
survey of recruitment consultants for the Recruitment and Employment
Confederation and KPMG found the number of people in permanent or
temporary roles continued to rise in November.

Jobs aplenty: The latest REC/KPMG report showed job vacancies at a 15 year high in November. Official figures have shown the number of people claiming jobseeker's allowance falling consistently for the past year

Permanent staff saw their salaries
rise at the fastest pace since November 2007, the report found while
contract staff saw their pay increase at what it called a ‘solid pace’
when compared to October.

And
the number of candidates per job vacancy fell last month with the
number people applying for roles falling at its fastest rate since July
2007.

The figures will once again draw
attention to the Bank of England’s policy of forward guidance, which has
linked any rise in interest rates to unemployment in the UK falling to 7
per cent.

Last month,
the Bank revised its forecast for when this threshold might be reached
to the end of 2014, making a rise in rates likely in mid-2015.

The Recruitment and Employment
Confederation report showed the number of people applying for temporary roles fell at the fastest pace in nine years.

The reported rise in salaries may come as a surprise to many people who have seen their pay increase by a meagre 1 per cent on average since the onset of the financial crisis five years ago, or have seen it frozen.

Official estimates last week suggested the average middle income household had actually seen its income fall by £1,700 over the past five years in real terms. The Office of National Statistics most recent labour market data showed last month that average wages rose by a paltry 0.7 per cent in the twelve months to October.

The REC/KPMG report said all four English regions posted increases in permanent placements, with the Midlands continuing to register the fastest growth.

The Midlands also led a broad-based expansion of temporary/contract staff billings during November.

Growth of demand was broad-based across all nine types of permanent staff monitored by the survey in November. Engineering workers were the most in demand, as was the case in October. Close behind were nurses and other medical professionals and care workers.

On the mend: The OBR revised forecast for the economic recovery shows output expanding by 1.4 per cent this year before accelerating to 2.4 per cent next year and beyond

Once again all nine industry categories registered increased demand for temporary staff in November. The fastest rate of growth was indicated for blue collar workers, closely followed by engineering employees. But despite the pick-up in the construction industry the slowest rise was signalled for construction staff.

REC chief executive Kevin Green said the fact the figures showed salary growth hitting a six year high, combined with continued skill and talent shortages, indicated salaries to increase and job fluidity were likely to accelerate into 2014.

‘The report on Jobs shows that all sectors, all regions and both the private and public sector are in growth, which is fantastic news for British businesses, the UK economy and people looking for work in 2014.’

Bernard Brown, partner and head of business services at KPMG said: ‘Six months ago – after almost five years of pain – most employers were wondering just how real the signs of recovery were.

‘But people have short memories and, if the latest recruitment figures are anything to go by, they may well now be wondering what all the fuss was about.

‘Of course, it is never that simple. The opportunities may exist but employees don’t seem keen to take them, with the proportion of candidates making themselves available falling at the sharpest rate for six years.

‘It may be that people are still worried about job security but it is more likely that we are seeing a return of the traditional winter slowdown in recruitment as staff are more focused on Christmas than careers.

‘As a result employers are trying to tempt top talent to change jobs by offering more in the way of cash or incentives. It’s a tactic that may bring short-term success, but the risk of falsely inflating the jobs market must be considered. Left unchecked, it could put unnecessary and unsustainable pressure on businesses just at the time their cash flow problems are easing.’

The
jobs data follows hot on the heels of revised economic growth forecasts
from the Office of Budgetary Responsibility last week.

The
OBR said it now expects the British economy will have grown by 1.4 per
cent by the end of 2013 significantly higher than its previous March
estimate of 0.6 per cent and the sharpest upward revision of economic
growth – by the Treasury - since 1997.

The OBR forecast growth next year would be 2.4 per cent before hitting 2.6 per cent in 2015 .

Last
week also saw three economic reports which all pointed to economic
growth accelerating to 1 per cent in the last three months of this year
suggesting the economy may have grown even faster than the latest OBR
projection.

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Number of job vacancies rises to 15 year high as staff see salaries increase at fastest rate since November 2007